Winds Cafe

It certainly helped improve our Yellow Springs, OH experience when we were able to keep our dinner reservation at Winds Cafe and the restaurant proved to be quite cozy on a damp evening. I thought the food was good, especially the lasagna.

2nd impressions of Y.S.

 

Our second impressions of Yellow Springs, OH were a bit better due to the street festival ending, finding parking, and being able to walk what is essentially a walkable downtown.

Yellow Springs, OH

Our troubling first impression of Yellow Springs, OH had to do with 1) the unexpected street festival and the lack of parking that caused 2) the rain 3) our unglamorous lodging, which we realized was probably a direct result of the street festival.

welcome to Ohio

Indiana University, part 4

Interestingly the campus has a huge hotel on it.

Indiana University, part 3

Lots of stone, yes, but it's nicely complemented by lots of greenery. 

Indiana University, part 2

An impressive assortment of buildings on a large, leafy campus.

Indiana University campus

 

When in Bloomington, IN check out the Indiana University campus. We started with the Eskenazi Museum of Art, designed by I.M. Pei and completed in 1982. I was reminded of course of the Paul Mellon Arts Center on the Choate Rosemary Hall campus, completed a decade earlier.

Bloomington, IN La Quinta

 

The La Quinta in Bloomington, IN. For a chain hotel it was well designed and well located. Below, a catalpa sapling encountered on an early morning walk. At first I thought it was a princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa).

high tech laundry

 

First time I was pressured to get an app to do laundry. First time I was charged a "convenience fee" for not having an app. At least I got what I paid for - unlike a 21st century vending machine.

My Thai Cafe

Sometimes the chain hotel you check into turns out to be a short walk from a top notch Thai restaurant - My Thai Cafe & Sushi Bar in Bloomington, IN. Below was possibly the best salad I've had in a Thai restaurant. The food was delicious, vegetarian-friendly and evidently very popular.

welcome to Indiana

Glimpses of Galesburg, part 2

After dinner we strolled a little deeper into the city's historic core and encountered the Old City Hall (seen here), the Knox County Courthouse (not seen here), and a smattering of other buildings (seen here).

Iron Spike

On the face of it Iron Spike Brewing Company, situated in a historic fire station, seemed like a good dinner venue. What we didn't know was that it was participating in a fundraiser that involved a huge, noisy crowd combined with loud, bad music. The food wasn't great either. To be fair the service was good, my basil lemonade spritz was okay (I was thirsty), and the space itself was interesting.

Glimpses of Galesburg

Heading out to dinner we saw a little more of Downtown Galesburg in the evening light...

Galesburg Holiday Inn

I suppose this was the best pool of the trip since it's the only one I actually used. The Galesburg, IL Holiday Inn Express was on the whole pretty good, a very different experience from The Great House but still a good place to unwind after a few days on the train.

Cornucopia

One of the absolute highlights of our revisit to Galesburg, IL was setting foot in Cornucopia Natural Market & Deli and discovering that it is a first rate health food store just steps away from the Amtrak station and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. This made an already user-friendly town even more user-friendly. It's a large, pleasant space with clean restrooms and a fantastic deli featuring a variety of Indian curry dishes and a memorable "eggless egg salad". Also, the service was friendly and informative, making this one of the best lunches of the trip.